An Air India London-bound flight returned to Delhi after a passenger attacked two cabin crew members onboard the flight on Monday.
Jaskirat Singh, aged 25, verbally abused the crew members and hit one of them on the neck causing her to fall on the floor. He then pulled her by the hair and hit another crew member on her face, they said.
Singh had to be restrained with the help of other crew members and passengers, and the aircraft was brought back to Delhi about three hours after its departure. He was deboarded and subsequently detained.
Flightradar24, flight tracker app, indicated that the jetliner altered course to return to India when it was flying near Peshawar in Pakistan.
After handing over the passenger to the Delhi Police and lodging a complaint against him, the Air India flight took off for London.
Jaskirat’s family members claimed that he was mentally unstable.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Airport) Devesh Kumar Mahla said, “We have received a complaint in this regard and have detained Jaskirat, who was travelling with his parents to London. He is being interrogated and legal action will be taken accordingly.”
He was deboarded from the plane for his unruly behaviour with two cabin crew members.
In a statement, the airline said, “Air India flight AI 111 scheduled to operate Delhi-London Heathrow on April 10, 2023 returned to Delhi shortly after departure due to the serious unruly behaviour of a passenger on board. Not heeding to verbal and written warnings, the passenger continued with unruly behaviour including causing physical harm to two of the cabin crew members.
“The pilot in command decided to return to Delhi and the passenger was handed over to the security personnel upon landing. An FIR has also been lodged with the police. Safety, security and dignity of all on board is important to us at Air India. We are providing all possible support to the affected crew members. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers and have rescheduled the flight to depart for London this afternoon.” The civil aviation regulator is also investigating the incident.
In an advisory, DGCA said there are provisions under the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) for action to be taken by the airline to deal with unruly passengers. Besides, it said the responsibilities of pilots, cabin crew members and the director of inflight services are also mentioned in the CAR.
Airline crew, pilots and accountable managers have failed to act on unruly passengers including those found smoking, drunk, indulging in altercations, and inappropriately touching or sexually harassing co-passengers or flight crew, the DGCA said and issued an advisory asking airlines to ensure action and immediate reporting in cases of unruly passenger behaviour to the regulator as per rules to ensure safe operations.
It asked the head of operations at airlines to ensure sensitisation of staff on handling unruly passengers. This is not the first time Air India witnessed such a ruckus on a flight. Earlier, in January, a man, identified as Shankar Mishra was arrested of allegedly urinating on a woman on board an AI flight on November 26 last year. The Delhi Police arrested him on January 6 this year.
In an inebriated condition, Mishra urinated on a 70-year-old woman on an Air India flight on November 26 last year. Delhi Police had registered an FIR against him on January 4 on a complaint given by the woman to Air India.